Hospitalizations due to varicella in the central hospital of Asturias (2001-2006)

Abstract

Objectives: To describe the characteristics of the children admitted to our center by chickenpox. Patients and methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of children hospitalized with the disease between 2001 and 2006, excluding patients who developed chickenpox after entering; the chickenpox was not his reason for admission. There will always be a descriptive analysis
of the data.
Results: Our sample consists of 70 children, with an average age of 2.83 years, 88% were younger than 5 years, with no difference found between the sexes. We found an increase in the number of income between the year 2001 and 2006. The 73% of the healthy children were admitted. A 15% of the total required admission to the pediatric intensive care unit. The average stay total income was 6.67 days. The most frequent complications were the skin (38%), followed by respiratory infections (17%), and neurological (13%).
Conclusions: Despite his usual mild, chickenpox and its complications have a high morbidity and a high social cost that support the introduction of universal vaccination.